Honeymoon Dreams

If you want preserve the romance in your honeymoon, make sure your
honeymoon planning is practical, realistic and a little street-smart. Here are a
few guidelines to get you off to a good start.

Start as early as you can. Last minute honeymoon plans lead to
miserable honeymoon experiences.

Find a specialist. Honeymoons are not the same as business travel. The
nice folks who helped you line up hotel and flight reservations for
your boss's business conference won't be much help, despite their
best intentions. Find someone who will sit down with you in person
for at least an hour to gather important information about you and
discuss your options in meaningful detail.

Clarify what you want to do on your honeymoon (besides the obvious!) so
it's easier to identify a suitable location. In between the extremes of
catatonic beach reptiles and die-hard mountain climbers lies a
multitude of choices -- shopping, sight-seeing, fine dining, aquatic
sports, etc. The best honeymoon specialists begin by having
husband and wife each fill out a questionnaire. News flash -- you and
your spouse-to-be might have different ideas on what constitutes a
"great" honeymoon.

Be realistic about what you are prepared to spend. That way, your travel
agent doesn't waste time with packages that are unsuitable to your
budget. While you're at it, ask your travel agent about setting up a
honeymoon registry. That way, it's easy for friends and relatives to
contribute to your honeymoon budget (and reduce your inventory of
surplus kitchen appliances!).

Know your destination. This is especially true if you plan to travel -- or
hold your marriage ceremony -- outside the United States. Every
country has its own rules, its own government, its own bureaucratic
idiosyncracies -- you get the idea. Your experienced honeymoon
specialist should be all over this stuff like a magnet, knowing what
offices to contact, what forms to fill out, what permissions to obtain,
etc.

Make lists. (If you're not a "list person," jump into a phone booth and
transform yourself immediately!) Bring those lists when you visit your
honeymoon specialist so you can write new things down right then
and there. With the myriad of details you'll have to manage, lists will
not only reduce the risk of forgetting something important, they'll
boost your morale as you triumphantly check off item after item.

Consider the pros and cons of travel packages. If you're both adventurous
and experienced, they may limit your options. Otherwise, they can
solve the problem of keeping yourself fed and beveraged, reducing
the risk of confronting a five-dollar soda pop when you only have
three dollars left.

Get smart advice about spending money. ATM's are convenient, but are
they reliable at your location? Traveller's checks are convenient, as
long as using them isn't a hassle. Money conversion storefronts are
convenient, but might be a rip-off. While you're at it, find out the
conversion rate for whatever foreign currency you will need.

Include one or two changes of clothing (especially underwear and socks!)
in your carry-on luggage. Believe it or not, airlines have been known
to misroute or lose luggage.

Invest in a document holder that will work with your carry-on luggage.
The best honeymoon specialists provide them. Fumbling for
paperwork when you're standing in line facing an impatient
bureaucrat is a miserable experience.